Judy Kaye, Wesley Taylor and More to Tell Tales of the City in San Francisco

Tony Award winner Judy Kaye, Betsy Wolfe, Mary Birdsong and Wesley Taylor will lead the cast of world-premiere musical Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, adapted from the novel of the same name, which will debut at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. The Broadway-bound tuner will begin performances on May 18 and officially open May 31, directed by Tony nominee Jason Moore.

Based on Maupin’s popular literary series set in 1970s San Francisco, Tales of the City, the show is both a portrait of the sexually and politically charged era and a comedy of manners. The story began as a serialization by Maupin in the San Francisco Chronicle, following the comic adventures of a young Midwestern woman who moves to 28 Barbary Lane and encounters a host of eccentric characters whose lives intertwine in surprising ways. The Chronicle piece eventually turned into a series of seven books, as well as a television mini-series for both PBS and Showtime. The musical will cover the first novel, Tales of the City, and touch on story lines that continue in the second book, More Tales of the City.

Kaye will lead the cast as landlady Anna Madrigal, with Wolfe as Midwestern transplant Mary Ann Singleton, Birdsong as the free-spirited Mona Ramsay and Taylor as Michael "Mouse" Tollivar. The cast will also include Manoel Felciano as Norman Neal Williams, Matthew Saldivar as Brian Hawkins, Richard Poe as Edgar Halcyon, Kathleen Monteleone as Dede Halcyon-Day, Andrew Samonsky as Beauchamp Day, Josh Breckenridge as Jon Fielding, Diane J. Findlay as Mother Mucca and Alex Hsu as Lionel. Rounding out the cast will be Keith Bearden, Kris Cusick, Kimberly Jensen, Stuart Marland, Pamela Myers, Julie Reiber and Josh Walden.

Birdsong, Wolfe and Felciano are reprising the roles they played in an earlier A.C.T. workshop of the show, which featured Tony winner Betty Buckley in the role of Anna Madrigal. The show features lyrics by Jason Sellards and music by John Garden, both of the band Scissor Sisters, along with a book by Tony winner Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and choreography by Larry Keigwin.

Kaye’s Broadway credits include On the Twentieth Century, Ragtime, Souvenir and The Phantom of the Opera, for which she won a Tony Award. Wolfe has been seen on Broadway in Everyday Rapture and 110 in the Shade, while Birdsong has appeared in Broadway’s Hairspray and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and TV hit Reno 911. Taylor’s Broadway credits include Rock of Ages and The Addams Family, and Felciano was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the revival of Sweeney Todd.

Tales of the City’s limited engagement will run through July 10.